In search of conviviality in Latin American cities: An essay from urban anthropology

Abstract

This chapter explores the conditions and modes through which social actors create patterns to live together in cities in contemporary Latin America ? a region characterized by social inequality and cultural heterogeneity. While concepts like "segregation" and "fragmentation" tend to emphasize distance, separation, and reciprocal isolation between groups and social classes, the framework of conviviality is a useful analytical tool (Nowicka and Vertovec 2014) to examine the contexts of interaction, negotiation and conflict about social positions and cultural identifications (Mecila 2017) within urban settings.